Dolls! Dolls! Dolls!
Puppet play: it can be nostalgic and sweet, strange and bizarre or downright creepy. In DOLLS! DOLLS! DOLLS!, we have something for everyone.
Utter nostalgia in our family programme with cute creatures like DROPJE (3+), a felted puppet that has all kinds of funny little adventures. We also meet WOEZEL EN PIP OP AVONTUUR IN DE TOVERTUIN (4+), the favourite toys of the five-year-old Sam that get lost on holiday. In HALLO WERELD! (5+) the puppets are made out of papier-maché and they guide us through the wondrous world of nature. The moving OOK MUIZEN GAAN NAAR DE HEMEL (6+) shows us what happens when animals, a mouse and a fox, end up in heaven. After FANTASTIC MR. FOX, stop-motion king Wes Anderson delivers another gem set in the animal kingdom with ISLE OF DOGS (8+), where all of the dogs in the Japanese city Megasaki have been exiled to Trash Island due to an outbreak of the dog flu. The movie showcases the unbreakable bond between man and pet in the typical Anderson style. Spike Jonze adapted WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (9+), the beloved children’s book by Maurice Sendak, for the screen. The heartwarming story follows the young Max, who discovers a hidden, magical island, that is home to the ’Wild Things’ from the title.
On to the bizarre part: David Bowie, leather-clad and sporting an iconic blonde mullet, and his army of puppet trolls hinder Jennifer Connelly’s heroine in her quest to save her brother from the king’s castle in LABYRINTH. It was the famous American puppeteer Jim Henson (SESAME STREET, THE MUPPET SHOW) who could raise the project to its cult status. HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS is the proof that you can make a wacky adventure film, even without a budget. A 19th century applejack salesman has to start over in a snowy landscape, which is occupied by hundreds of beavers. In the misty wilderness of North America lives a clan of four legendary sasquatches. In the style of a nature documentary and without uttering one word of dialogue, SASQUATCH SUNSET promises to be a surreal trip filled with sex, drugs and crazy guttural sounds. In his puppet movie ANOMALISA, Charlie Kaufman touches on themes such as love, identity and depression in his own unique way. To motivational speaker Michael Stone all people on earth look identical. Until he meets a woman on a business trip who looks completely different…
When you say dolls, traumatised viewers immediately think of Chucky, the possessed doll with the red hair, overalls and way too easy access to all kinds of weapons. During the Freaky Friday-edition of April, we screen the unhinged double bill: CHILD’S PLAY – popularly known as CHUCKY – and PUPPET MASTER, cult classics full of gore, camp and miniature murderers with attitude.
DOLLS! DOLLS! DOLLS! ties in with the second edition of puppet festival OERF OERF, organised by FROE FROE and De Studio.
